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Sorry, should have been a bit more precise. It's a 530d touring Sport in metallic green with cream leather. No comms pack but it has upgraded alloys, FSH, Dual digital climate control, Electrically adjustable front seats with memory, Cruise control, Computer with Fuel available and Service Indicators, Park distance audible warning, Electric mirrors and windows, Factory fitted Immobiliser, Remote cental locking, Child locks, Radio/CD Autochanger, Sports Multi function steering wheel, Front/rear and side airbags, Front and rear armrests, Rear Sunblind, ABS, PAS, Traction control, Tinted glass, Foglights, Headlight washers, Roof rails. She had an inspection 1 done last Friday and 2 new Continentals put on the front. The bad bits are broken cup holder front driver's side, loose broken? trim under driver's seat, PDC not working. I had an independent inspection done and apart from these wee faults and a slightly below par paint touch up job on a couple of panels (which I am happy with), there was nothing else wrong - and the bloke spent 4 hours looking at it. The reason for sale given is that she can't get it in the garae of her new house - ad I looked - she can't. It's a condition of the barn development that she's bought that you can't leave your car on the street. She's said she'll look into how much the PDC is to sort and we'll talk about it. Seems very genuine. Car owned by her daughter's father in law from new and she's the only other owner.
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Oh, and it's auto/sports box
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Unless you're happy to leave them as they are, price the replacement trim parts and repairing the PDC (park distance control?). Small trim parts can be expensive, as can fault-finding.
Being a very, very, suspicious buyer by nature, I'd also check how long the current owner has had the car. It may have come from her father, but was that 2 years ago? Or was it when he got an unpleasant prospective bill during the recent visit to the garage? It wouldn't be unheard of for a seller to use the legitimate-sounding explaination "it won't fit in my garage" to distract from bigger issues.
Not, I stress, that I'm casting any doubt on the seller, but its wise to double check, especially when the heart is shouting Buy! Buy! Buy!
Edit: As I've just noticed you've already bought it, all I can say is don't worry (you've obviously done your checks to your satisfaction) and enjoy!
Edited by Gromit {P} on 08/10/2007 at 13:13
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She's had it for 2.5 years. He had it for the first 2.5 (40K). It still has a wee dog hair residue but nothing Cruftsian. Her daughter lives in Southampton so that's been most of the trips I believe
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Rear sunblnd and PAS, eh? Wow, that'd sway it for me :-)
Seriously, though, you've done a deal with which you're happy - so stop stressing over whether you've made the right choice. Just enjoy your new purchase!
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Right, the cup holder is IIRC £28; the tray under the driver's seat will probably cost very little too. Look at www.realoem.com for part numbers and an idea of what you actually need. The prices are in dollars and you'll probably pay 60 - 70% of that number, only in pounds (but with the VAT). Some things are actually cheaper here than there though.
As for the suspension bushes - they're probably about 1 1/2 hours' labour per axle, so about £150 all in for labour from an independent and the same again for parts, or to put it another way about the same as a timing belt (which the E39 doesn't have). I don't think it's a major problem although it should definitely be done.
As for the PDC, I might be tempted to live without it but if the fault can be found relatively easily then the parts ought not to be that expensive and can be sourced from www.eurocarparts.com as a (probably only slightly) cheaper alternative to the main dealer.
As for the independent vs. dealer thing - my main dealer is within walking distance of the office, the indie specialist is a trek across town. The indie charges 2/3 of the main dealer rate but also seems to take half as long again so it works out much the same overall and is worth it for the convenience.
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Its my experience the people offload these just before large amounts of work is needed replacing suspension bushes an extremely costly process.
Do they use crystal balls to forsee this work when no signs are yet showing? You can tell if the suspension is shot.
I have ealier this year sold a 2001 520 se touring on a private plate in absolute mint condition with a new engine from BMW after £150 s worth of bushes (my labour) I got £4250 paid £2750 at Brighouse if I remember correctly
Hmmm. Did it have stupidly high mileage on it? Because thats ridiculously cheap for a facelift Touring. If it was, say, an X plate example with 80k on it, it trade books at £5k. Yet you bought it at auction for half that and still didn't sell it for more than trade? How very strange.
I used it for a while a petrol guzzling monster
Oh come on. For what they are, they are particulaly frugal. Mid 30's on a trip is very acceptable for a 6 cylinder petrol engined car of this type.
the ride and comfort not a patch on a E200 or the Vel satis I am using at the moment.
Yet both the E200 and the Vel Satis pitch and roll in corners like an Ocean liner.
The saloons sell best because they want them in all places east not the estates as they are not pimpy enough.
Is this coming from the ladybird book of cars? Tourings are very sought after becuase they are proper estates not lifestyle estates and have a large, practical loadbay.
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I have had all three and the vel satis is by far the best I have a 6 month old e class fully loaded and I would sooner drive the Vel Satis ,and forget book its what you can get on the day 5 to 7k will move you into new shape high miler 5 saloon at the moment.You would be also very lucky to get above 22 general town driving out of a 520 I buy and sell large German cars all day and believe it or not BMW's give more problems than any other large car never any real problems with mercs hence the low price in the trade.
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You cannot get E60 5 Series for £5-7k. Sorry but thats just not possible, Not even on a 100k mile 520i SE with cloth seats.
You might buy and sell large German cars but I wouldnt want to buy one from you with the level of knowledge of your product demonstrated in this thread.
I'll agree that things sometimes go wrong, but your opinions on newshape values and quality versus a cheapy Renault are amusing at best. Oh and 'never any problems' with Mercs? What about the huge, well documented quality issues the firm went through between about 2000 and 2005?
The E39 5 Series is one of the finest cars ever built and doesn't even deserve comparison with large Renaults. It's so different its just not funny, but then, the E Class Merc is vastly superior as well yet you seem to think the Vel Satis is better than that as well.
I wonder if thats why they sold so many Vel Satis.
Edited by MichaelR on 08/10/2007 at 16:47
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Hello "wee scotty dog".
I think you have bought an excellent car at an excellent price. The cup holder is known as a weak design on the E39. Unless you are bothered about using it, just tape the recess over it with black tape and forget about it. The same goes for your other minor niggles.
There are some used car traders on this forum who deal in E39s and seem happy enough to sell them but at the same time seem keen to knock them at every opportunity they get. All I can say is that I know several friends who have owned or still own high mileage E39 model BMWs and they have without fail all enjoyed their experience of owning those cars. I would say that HonestJohn's car by car article sums it up pretty well.
Enjoy your new 2nd hand car.
Edited by jbif on 08/10/2007 at 17:32
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I didn't even know the E39 had cup holders - you learn something new every day. I guess I've always had too much fun driving them to notice details like that!
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A high mileage (say 130k) early E60 520 in the wrong spec and colour is unlikely to fetch more than about £6-£7k at auction. That's about the bottom line for any sort of E60 at the moment.
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I didn't even know the E39 had cup holders - you learn something new every day. I guess I've always had too much fun driving them to notice details like that!
They are not particularly useful cupholders. They spring out into the little tray between the dashboard and the gearstick but they are too low down to hold anything securely. Acceptable for a can on a motorway trip but nothing more than that.
The prefacelift models had spring out cupholders in the rear, as well, but those broke constantly so BMW replaced them with a pointlessly small cubby hole in the facelift.
And to save posting a second reply, I still remain to be convinced that you can pop to an auction with £5k in your pocket and buy a tidy E60 520i SE in doom blue with 130k on it. Note I said tidy, becuase the value of wrecked, smashed and dented sheds is irrelevant to anyone, really.
Edited by MichaelR on 08/10/2007 at 18:39
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You won't get one for £5k, but you might for £7k if you hunt around. Whether you'd actually want one is perhaps a different matter - there are endless better buys for £7k than an unwamted E60 IMO.
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in doom blue
hey! what's wrong with non-metallic dark blue (I assume that's what you mean) just so happens i've got an e39 in this colour, looks pretty good to me!
it's a lot easier to match when you respray the bonnet [he says running off looking over his shoulder]
seriously though, is this a 'doom blue'?
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Yes, that's doom blue, and even if you think it looks okay (I do too actually) it'll be cheap.
As for the bonnet respray thing, my metallic navy bonnet was resprayed and the only way you'd tell, no matter how fussy you are, is that the bonnet isn't as chipped as the wings.
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E39s look good in colour, recently saw one in solid white - perfect.
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E39s look good in colour recently saw one in solid white - perfect.
Did he nick you PU??
VBR.................MD
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Funnily enough I half thought that, but figured they'd have gone silver..
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my "doom blue" e39
tinyurl.com/2tg35a
tinyurl.com/3adwqd
tinyurl.com/35x95b
it's the future, I'm telling you!
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Whats the odd looking chrome strip along the boot?
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Whats the odd looking chrome strip along the boot?
tinyurl.com/2ba57u
it is genuine bmw accessory, did have the part number somewhere
had me confused when I first saw it too
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Hi, thanks for the chat and help. I will probably put up with a couple of the trim niggles but I need to get the spare key and the pdc working. Also, it doesn't have the badge at the back (530d) which I suppose is how it's always been. Can you get these fitted?
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Also it doesn't have the badge at the back (530d) which I suppose is how it's always been. Can you get these fitted?
Do you really want to advertise to the "what'll it do mister" crowd.
I would leave it anonymous, if you know a little about cars you will know what it is without the badge anyway.
Just my 0.02? worth.
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I would leave it anonymous if you know a little about cars you will know what it is without the badge anyway. Just my 0.02? worth.
Unless you have super eagle eyes you won't know, as a 525d looks the same with the exception of marginally smaller brake discs.
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Unless you have super eagle eyes you won't know as a 525d looks the same with the exception of marginally smaller brake discs.
All the 525d's I've seen come with the little bee-sting roof aerial which I have not seen on a 530d. Just my observations...
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Thats just the aerial for the communications pack.
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Congratulations!
Mine needed parking sensors replacing when I bought it. They work out at around £50 each fitted at my indy - a good deal more at the nice shiney dealers though.
Sounds a lovely motor you've got there - enjoy!
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Hello valmiki.
Isn't that "doomblue" colour of your BMW actually a special edition or individual "midnight blue" or "aegean blue" or "toledo blue"?
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Isn't that "doomblue" colour of your BMW actually a special edition or individual "midnight blue" or "aegean blue" or "toledo blue"?
nah, pretty sure, as the code is 'dunkel blau' 263 (non-metallic dark blue)
scrubs up pretty well though
i always thought that doom blue was a lighter shade of dull blu, like you sometimes see on golfs and audis (no jab intended)
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I have had all three and the vel satis is by far the best I have a 6 month old e class fully loaded and I would sooner drive the Vel Satis and forget book its what you can get on the day 5 to 7k will move you into new shape high miler 5 saloon at the moment.You would be also very lucky to get above 22 general town driving out of a 520 I buy and sell large German cars all day and believe it or not BMW's give more problems than any other large car never any real problems with mercs hence the low price in the trade.
To be fair, I have had loads of E34 520/525 and now have a E39 523 (2.5 engine), and the fuel consumption of the 2.0 is vastly inferior to that of the 2.5 engine, which I have found averages mid 30's without any bother. Persoanlly I would never buy a 2.0 litre 5 (or 3 for that matter) to run myself.
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The car had a private plate on when I viewed it, and the vendor had sent the V5 off to the DVLA. I paid a deposit to hold and they will drive up with all paperwork when they get it back from Swansea. How long will that take? I'm itching to get out there for a drive.
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To be fair I have had loads of E34 520/525 and now have a E39 523 (2.5 engine) and the fuel consumption of the 2.0 is vastly inferior to that of the 2.5 engine which I have found averages mid 30's without any bother. Persoanlly I would never buy a 2.0 litre 5 (or 3 for that matter) to run myself
Facelift 520i's are 2.2 litre M54B22 engines. They develop the same power as the previous generation M52B25 you had.
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